The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship
From the road to the race track, we’re passionate about cars. With a rich history of over 60 years of high-octane racing action, the partnership between Kwik Fit and the British Touring Car Championship was a natural fit. In our centres, our staff and customers regularly see the road-going versions of the touring cars we see racing around iconic circuits on BTCC race weekends. The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship partnership has given us the opportunity to connect with BTCC fans and teams, as well as connecting our staff and customers to the Championship. Last year, we celebrated our 50th anniversary in style at Silverstone with gold number plates and 50th branding around the circuit. We’re thrilled that we were able to celebrate during an exciting BTCC race weekend at an iconic circuit.
Our Partnership
Working with the BTCC, we wanted to enhance the BTCC fan experience both at race weekends and with additional digital content. The BTCC attracts over 385,000 spectators, with over 19 million viewer hours on live TV, so creating content and activities for BTCC fans is a key aspect of our partnership.
At our fan zone on race weekends, we loved interacting with BTCC fans and hosting our ‘Racing Bug Championship’, where fans had the opportunity to challenge BTCC drivers in our racing simulator. We’ve also engaged with the BTCC community through social media content including interactive series such as Power Rankings where we encourage fans to vote on their top driver of the weekend. We’re thrilled to have been able to share three exciting BTCC seasons with our customers and engage with BTCC fans both online and trackside. With the BTCC going hybrid in 2022, the season is set to be full of excitement, bring on 2022!
2021 Season Review
Ash Sutton secured his third BTCC title at Brands Hatch after a dominant 2021 season. Going into the final race weekend with a 32-point advantage over his closest rival, Colin Turkington, Sutton needed a steady rather than spectacular performance to take home the title. With an outside mathematical chance of winning the title, Josh Cook did everything he could in the first two races to keep himself in contention. However, the points deficit was a stretch too far and Sutton maintained his lead with top 6 finishes in the first two races to secure the title. With the title in the bag, Sutton reverted to his usual racing style of striving for first place. Starting from 4th place on the grid, Sutton was able to take more risks battling past competitors to secure the race win in the final race of the season. Sutton’s third BTCC title puts him one behind Colin Turkington, the four-time BTCC title winner, who finished as runner-up in the 2021 Drivers’ Standings.
2020 Season Review
Ash Sutton clinched his second BTCC title in a dramatic 2020 season finale at Brands Hatch. Sutton went into the weekend 9 points behind Colin Turkington at the top of the table. Saturday’s qualifying session showed Sutton’s ability to overtake Turkington, as he qualified in 3rd place - with Turkington managing 8th place. Sutton built on this by finishing 2nd in race one, with Turkington down in 9th place. This put Sutton in the lead going into the second race. Sutton capitalised on this by winning the race with Turkington narrowly missing out on a podium finish in 4th place. Sutton cruised to a 5th place finish just behind Turkington in 4th in race three to ensure he finished the season as the Kwik Fit BTCC 2020 Champion. Turkington finished 14 points behind in 2nd place followed by Dan Cammish in 3rd place.
We can’t wait for the 2022 season, and we’re looking forward to welcoming BTCC fans to our Kwik Fit stand. In the meantime, you can keep up with all the highlights and exclusive BTCC content on our social media channels.
Throughout an exciting season, we enjoyed interacting with passionate BTCC fans in person at race weekends and online. We also saw an incredible amount of generous donations to Prostate Cancer UK through BTCC events such as the Thruxton 24 Mile event. We’d like to thank BTCC fans and drivers in helping us raise awareness and funds to support the incredible work of our charity partner in helping to prevent men needlessly dying from prostate cancer.
